"Supernatural Ministry"

"Supernatural Ministry"

(Text: Acts 19)

What did you get when you got saved?

Paul comes to Ephesus and finds some disciples of John’s..

They had repented and tried to live the Christian life

.

They had heard the Baptist’s message.

A message of repentance.

They had heard and believed and returned home.

Paul comes to Ephesus and hears about this group of believers.

He goes to meet them and immediately recognizes something was missing.

Repentance is good.. But what did you get when you believed?

There is more to this experience than simply repentance, salvation..

The eradication of sin.

`There is the living presence of Christ.

There is the experience of being baptized in the Holy Spirit.

Paul asks, "Have you received the Holy Spirit?"

They answered.. "We haven’t even heard about this Baptism of the Holy Spirit.

This is important.. You see Paul expected every believer to be baptized in the Holy Spirit

This was the natural order..

You were saved.. Baptized.. Baptized in the Spirit.

Every Christian in the New Testament Church was a Pentecostal.

Some say it ended.. I Corinthians 13:8.. No! That speaks of heaven.

What happened?

They lost it.

We have been satisfied with less.

People say if I could be half as good.. And they are satisfied with less and less.

The church at Ephesus needed a supernatural experience.

We must not be satisfied with less. We need a supernatural experience.

What would Paul say if he visited our church?

If he looked into our faces?

Would he ask, "Have you been baptized in the Holy Spirit?"

Paul Was There To Claim The City For Christ..

Ephesus was a great city. The treasure city of Asia Minor.

In the center of the city stood a great temple of Artemis.

This was a city that was caught up in the supernatural, in superstition, in sorcery and in Idol worship!

This city knew the power of the evil arts.

Look at verse 19, you see that city was caught up in spells, evil writings and the black arts.

9Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.

It was to this evil place that Paul came to claim it for Christ.

He was confronted by many evil powers but that was okay.

You see, he came in the name of Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit!

Paul Came Preaching The Power Of The Holy Spirit.. (V. 11-12)

11And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: 12So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.

Read those verses, then underline "special."

That says something to us.

It tells that God did extraordinary things through Paul’s Ministry but it also implies that there were many "ordinary" miracles, too.

Even the clothes he wore, the rags he used to wipe his brow, the towels with which he wiped his hands were agents that brought forth miracles.

Listen to what happened in Ephesus, to what took place through the ministry of Paul. The Bible says the sick were healed, diseases left, people were made whole, evil spirit were put to flight.

Why did this happen?

Were the clothes special?

Did Paul’s perspiration have a special anointing?

No! See Paul’s miracles were accomplished in the name of Jesus.

Paul didn’t move in his own ability or in his own strength. It is clear that Paul moved in the power of the Holy Spirit.

It was the power of God that brought forth these miracles.

When Paul came to a city to preach he didn’t expect any less than the power of God to be manifested. Paul came expecting miracles.

I wonder what would happen next Sunday, if we came expecting miracles?

A Glimpse Into The Supernatural World..

There is another world that exist all around us..

The city of Ephesus knew the reality of the supernatural world.

The people lived on the midst of evil forces at work in the lives of sorcerers, seers and seekers of evil power.

Their lives were touched by these forces and power.

Listen to me, the "spirit world" is real.

It exist all around us. Most are blind to it.

There is an example in the Old Testament, in 2 Kings 6:17,

Elisha and his servant find themselves in a city surrounded by the army of the Assyria. Elisha’s servant is afraid and wants to flee. Elisha prays that the servant’s eyes will be opened. Suddenly, the servant can see chariots of fire and angelic army that stands between them and the army of their enemy. He sees that there is another world, a spiritual world that exists all around us.